If you are currently investigating on how to integrate your applications into the Windows 7 desktop, the following links may be a good starting point:
- Extending the Desktop: The general starting point in MSDN
- Taskbar Extensions: A good overview over the new features of the taskbar as well as links to the corresponding APIs
- Integrate with the Windows 7 Desktop: A presentation from the PDC giving a good overview over the features and some examples on how to use the APIs
- Download of the Windows SDK
- For .NET developers, there are some sample .NET interop libraries available. See the Windows 7 for Developers blog.
Make sure that you are also familiar with the Application User Model IDs:
Application User Model IDs (AppIDs) are used extensively by the taskbar in Windows 7 and later systems to associate processes, files, and windows with a particular application. In some cases, it is sufficient to rely on the internal AppID assigned to a process by the system. However, an application that owns multiple processes or an application that is running in a host process might need to explicitly identify itself so that it can group its otherwise disparate windows under a single taskbar button and control the contents of that application’s Jump List.